Forex

EUR/USD is trading at 1.0533, down 0.0087.
The pair is trading at the session lows as overseas forex traders wind down trading for the day. Market talk about global money flows and European headline news has kept buyers and sellers active. ...

Breaking a three-day spectacular upmove, the rupee retreated modestly from a near one-month high to end at 67.42 against the US dollar as sentiment turned bearish ahead of the Fed rate decision. Rene...

AUD/USD is trading at 0.7451, down 0.0033.
The pair is trading choppy as overseas forex traders wind down trading for the day.
Market chatter about comments from global policy makers and headline news is making the rounds.
The...

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) said that sales for
the fourth quarter 2016 are trending towards the lower end of the previously
stated $750 million to $790 million guidance, hurt by lower Surgical Heart Valve
Therapy or...

Fashion brand’s profits hit by increased investment and foreign exchange costs
Mulberry has slipped into the red after investing more in products, but sales rose strongly as the British handbag maker’s new collection helped it win back...

China's foreign exchange reserves fell far more than expected in November to the lowest level in nearly six years, as authorities struggled to stem capital outflows and shore up the sliding yuan in the face of the relentlessly rising dollar.

Bats Global Markets, Inc. (Bats: BATS) today reported November data and highlights, including $30.4 billion average daily notional value traded on the Hotspot FX platform, one of the strongest months of 2016 for the segment.
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FOREX[1] is the world's most traded market with an average daily turnover of USD $3.2 trillion[2].

Trades occur 24 hours a day, starting Monday morning in the Asia-Pacific region and ending Friday evening in North America.

Common FX Practices

Corporate FX Programs

Many corporations who receive a significant portion of their revenue from overseas (overseas refers to any sites outside of the chartering country - "headquarters") may wish to participate in FX Hedging. This is primarily because currency volatility can majorly effect a company's stated income. A long-winded example is below.

Say Google receives more than 50% of its revenue from outside the United States. This creates a situation in which the relative strength of the U.S. Dollar (USD) can impact its financials. If the Euro (EUR) strengthens against the dollar, it has a net positive impact on Google's income statement. If EUR/USD decreases, meaning more USD can be bought with 1 EUR, then when the company calculates the value of its EUR-denominated revenue, it will see a higher than average USD amount. Forex

Retail FX

In the last several years, the Retail FX market has opened up substantially with the spread of the internet and online trading. This segment is said to occupy about 4% of all forex transactions and is growing rapidly.
One of the main reasons for this phenomenon is the simplified trading platforms like TradeStation that were recently developed by innovative internet brokers, aiming to educate the lay person and help get into this lucrative market.

Example with Fake Numbers and no Transaction Costs

Let's say, for ease of demonstration, that 1 EUR = 2 USD, or that 1 Euro can purchase 2 U.S. Dollars (this is not the case, but it's easy math). Furthermore, we can claim that Google makes 1 million Euros in December 2008 in France. If Google recognizes that revenue in USD, we'd say that Google made 2 million dollars that month (from France). Suppose, however, that the Dollar strengthens against the Euro, and instead we get 1 EUR = 1.5 USD (USD appreciates, which means that 1 Euro now buys less than before). This would instead result in 1.5 million dollars for December, instead of the previous 2 million.

On your own, try seeing what would happen if the USD weakens against the Euro (1 EUR = 3 USD). This volatility is something that most companies desperately seek to avoid. One can probably see already, the more money at risk, the greater the trading activity. Vis-à-vis, the more currencies that impact revenue, the greater the trading activity. As a result, these companies engage in all sorts of Hedging practices, including using currency swaps and Derivatives (Options, Futures, and forwards), to limit their exposure to currency movement, especially for the primary currencies as listed above.